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Church of the Pilgrims, 



BROOKLYN, N. Y 



Reprinted from the Congregational Quarterly, January 1871. 






BROOKLYN: 

H. M. GARDNER, JR., PRINTER, CORNER FULTON AND YORK STREETS. 

1871, 



^ 3 S.OS 
01 



7 l./'X- 



THE CHURCH OF THE PILGRIMS, 

IN BROOKLYN, N. Y. 

The completion of important changes in its house of wor- 
ship renders a notice of this church one of timely interest. 
And since it has never had special attention in the Quarterly, 
it is fitting that the statement of those changes and their re- 
sults, should follow a sketch of its history and work. The 
third, in membership, among the churches of our order, in the 
United States, its position in a city which has, perhaps, more 
existing church organizations, according to population, than 
any American city — is one of recognized and deserved pre- 
eminence. The eldest of nearly twenty Congregational churches 
in Brooklyn, it is cheerfully owned as the mother of a .great 
line of children here, while its disposition and ability to bless 
have been abundantly experienced in our own and foreign 
lands. 

Its life and growth have been coincident with the marvellous 
growth of the city. In 1 844, Brooklyn covered an area of twelve 
square miles, had a population of 59,000, and perhaps forty 
churches. None of these churches stood for the old ecclesi- 
astical order of the New England fathers. The time, however, 
was ripe for planting one that should ; and impulse was clearly 
given to movement in this direction by providential circum- 
stances. Hon. RuFUS Choate, on the 22d Dec, 1843, de- 
livered his oration — " The. Age of the Pilgrims our Heroic 
Period" — before the New England Society of New York. 
Speaking of the residence of English exiles, in the reign of 
Mary, from 1553 to 1558, at Geneva, and of the politics which 
pilgrims learned there, he declared in an effective passage, 
amid enthusiastic plaudits, — ^^ There was a State without king 
or nobles ; tJiere was a church without a Bishop ; there was a 



i)eople governed by grave magistrates which it had selected, and 
equal laws which it had framed!' ^ The celebrated Onder- 
donk trial having been concluded a short time previous to this, 
all listeners were quick to catch and note the words. 

Rev, Dr. Wainwright, afterwards Bishop of the Diocese of 
New York, who was present at the dinner of the Society, in the 
evening, referring to this sentence, maintained in entire good 
nature, that such a church was, at the least, unscriptural. His 
remarks led to the speedy appearance, in the New York Com- 
mercial Advertiser, of a communication from Rev. Dr. George 
Potts, pastor of the University Place Presbyterian Church in 
New York, denying Dr. W.'s thesis, and challenging him to 
newspaper discussion of this and kindred points in issue be- 
tween Episcopal and non-Episcopal denominations. The chal- 
lenge was readily accepted, and the discussion prosecuted for some 
months ensuing. Christian brethren, moved to lay the founda- 
tions of a church in Brooklyn, were taking heed of these things, 
and ultimately saw, as they thought, that the tenable ground 
for church polity was that Congregationalism under which most 
of them had been born in the Eastern States. And early in 
the year 1844, David Hale, W, C. Oilman, S. B. Hunt, and 
R. P. Buck, met one evening, over the office of the New York 
Journal of Commerce, on the corner of Wall and Water Streets, 
in that city, to counsel and deliberate upon the incipient meas- 
ures to that end. Here among the tea chests, — which, with 
their contents, had been disposed of at an auction sale on the 
premises, that very day, — after prayer by David Hale, the 
resolution was reached to endeavor to establish the Church of 
the Pilgrims, in Brooklyn. . The first meeting of persons pro- 
posing to unite in the organization, was called for the first day 
of December, 1844, at the house of Richard P. Buck, corner 
Clinton and State Streets, in Brooklyn, Here a committee of 
five was appointed to prepare Articles of Faith and Covenant,^ 

* Choate's Works, vol. i, p. 379. Boston : Little, Brown & Co., 1862. These 
words of the orator gave rise to the stirring song by Rev. C. H. Hall, in honor of 
the Pilgrims, whose stanzas end with the couplet, — 

" And to a howling wilderness, this glorious boon they bring, 

A CHURCH WITHOUT A BiSHOP — A SXATE WITHOUT A KiNG." 

* The result of the labors of this committee was, for substance, the present 
Articles and Covenants of the church, based mainly upon those of Park Street 
Church, in Boston. 




.HLKDll OK THE PIUiKI.MS, U1UR)KLV.\. N. Y. 
Vifiv on Henr> Slrr^t. 



i 



5 

and to make suitable arrangements for formal organization. 
Meeting again December nth, it was unanimously " resolved, 
that in view of the solemn responsibilities connected with the 
formation of a church of Christ, Friday, the 20fh instant, be 
observed by us as a day of fasting and prayer, concluding with 
religious services in the evening." 

This having been observed, a council convened, to consti- 
tute the church, at the house of Hiram Barney, No. 70 
Pierrepont Street, Saturday, December 21st. There were 
present, Rev. H. Bushnell, d. d., pastor of the North Con-, 
gregational Church in Hartford, Conn., Bro. Sam. C. Hill, 
delegate from the Tabernacle (Cong.) Church in New York, 
Rev. Benj. Lockwood, pastor of the Congregational Church 
in Jersey City, N, J., with Bro. Thomas Weldon as delegate. 
Rev. John Marsh, Rev. Milton Badger, d. d., Rev. J. Brace, 
and Rev. A. Camp, of New York, and also Rev. Samuel 
Backus, of Brooklyn. Of this council. Rev. Dr. Badger was 
moderator, and Rev. Mr. Bkace, scribe. Having voted all pre- 
vious proceedings regular, the council voted to proceed to the 
constitution of the church on the following evening, Dec. 22d, 
at the Lecture Room of the Lyceum (now Brooklyn Institute), 
corner Concord and Washington Streets. At that time, sixty- 
one persons (thirty male and thirty-one female) were duly 
recognized as a church, and entered into covenant with God 
and with each other. ^ Ten others (five male and five female) 
were received during the same week, and it was voted that 
their union with the church should be understood to date from 
its original organization. Of these seventy-one persons, eigh- 
teen are at present in the church, eleven are starred in the 
manual as dead, and forty-two have been dismissed to other 
churches. In the services of recognition, the sermon was 
preached by Rev. Mr. Brace, the moderator performed the 
formal office of constitution, and the fellowship of the churches 

' From the ist N. S. Pres. ch., Henry street, Brooklyn (Rev. S. H. Cox), 34 
from the South Pres. ch., Brooklyn (Rev. S. T. Spear), 8 ; from ist Cong, ch, 
Hartford, Ct., 4 ; from Madison st. Pres. ch.. New York, 3 ; from 2d Pres. ch, 
Brooklyn (Rev. I. S. Spencer), 3 ; from ist O. S. Pres. ch., Brooklyn (Rev. M. W, 
Jacobus), I ; from Bleecker st. Pres. ch., New York, 3 ; from Pres. ch., Hunting 
ton, L.I., 2; from Mt. Vernon Cong, ch., Boston, 2 ; from Bowdoin st. ch., Bos 
ton, I. 



was expressed by Rev, Dr. Bushnell. The ecclesiastical 
society was organized Dec. 24th, 1844. 

" We worshipped," writes one of the oldest members of the 
church, "from the date of organization, until March, 1845, ^^ 
what is now the Brooklyn Institute. Then we began to wor- 
ship in our lecture room (of the present church building), 
and continued to do so, hiring a supply of various ministers, 
sometimes for several weeks, and sometimes from Sabbath to 
Sabbath." Among these clergymen was Rev. George Shep- 
^ARD, D. D., then Professor of Sacred Rhetoric and Homiletics 
at Bangor (Me.) Theological Seminary, who supplied the pulpit 
for nearly two months, and in the year 1845, received an 
unanimous and pressing call to take charge of the new enter- 
prise. Such efforts were at once made, however, by the friends 
of the Seminary, to endow his professorship, as induced him 
to remain in it, and decline the invitation. Similar declension 
having subsequently been received from Rev. William Adams, 
D. D., of New York, a call to the pastorate was extended in the 
summer of 1846, to Rev. Richard S. Storrs jr., then of 
Brookline, Mass., which call was accepted, upon its renewal 
in the fall, and its recipient installed November 19th, 1846. 
From that time his connection with his people has been un- 
broken, and the seal of divine favor upon the relations then 
estabhshed, has been signal. Additions to the church from its 
beginning, by profession of faith and by letter, have been as 
follows : — 

In 1845, 34. 1111851,49, In 1857, 61, 1111863, 29, 

" 1846, 37. " 1852, 62, " 1858, 100, " 1S64, 34, 

" 1847, 69. « 1853, 63, " 1859, 24. " 1865, 52. 

" 1848, 35. " 1854, 32. " i860, 30. " 1866, lOI. 

« 1849, 66. " 1855, 48. " 1861, 36, " 1867, 42. 

" 1850, 60. " 1856, 38, " 1862, 24. " 1868, 21. 

Ill 1869, 57 ; in 1870, 60, 
Summary, — Members received on profession of faith from the beginning, 461 ; 
do. by letter, 875 ; dismissed to other churches, 552 ; died, no; watch and dis- 
cipline withdrawn, 3; excommunicated, i. Members, Dec. i, 1870, — male, 25S; 
female, 412 ; total, 670. 

At the present writing (December, 1870), the city of Brooklyn 
has a population of four hundred thousand ; covers an area of 
nearly thirty square miles, and the Church of the Pilgrims is 
one of two hundred and thirty-two named in the Directory for 
1870. 



Passing from these figures, if inquiry be made after its life 
and power, the answer is fruitful of matter for thanksgiving. 
The only pastor of this people has been permitted to do a 
great work with and for them. Widely known and regarded as 
he is, it may be in place to set down here, his matured judg- 
ment of the church, to be found in a sermon preached Nov. i8 
1866, after twenty years of his ministry. An extract is as 
follows : — 

" I do not certainly intend to affirm, — you would not believe 
me if I did, and would not credit me with sincerity in saying 
it, — that this has been a perfect church. As we measure it 
against the ideal of the New Testament, which will in future 
times be realized, it has been far enough from that ; and none 
can feel its deficiencies more keenly than those who have long 
been associated with it, and accustomed to pray for its perfec- 
tion. But without the smallest disposition to exaggerate, or, 
certainly, to flatter, — which you will bear witness that I have 
not been wont to do hitherto, and which I do not intend at this 
late day to begin, — I may say, as a reason for grateful 
acknowledgment to God for his goodness, that nowhere in the 
land, in all the wide circle of churches of different names to 
which I have occasionally ministered, have I found another 
more full than this of intellectual and spiritual force ; more 
attentiveto the truth, or more responsive to its appeals ; more 
ready to give, and personally to labor, for the advancement of 
the kingdom of Christ ; more eager and tender in its solicitous 
sympathies toward those who are inquiring for the way and the 
hope of the life everlasting ; more glad and grateful, when God 
has been pleased to bless it in his grace (as from time to time 
he has done) with signal and powerful effusions of his Spirit ; 
more ready to seize on every opportunity to make an influence 
for goodness and for God widely felt in the land and the world." 

To bring on this condition of things, Rev. Dr. Stores has, 
from the first, made faithful and happy exertion. He has reso- 
lutely and freely given himself to the work of Christ, as a min- 
ister, and has left none who know him well, in any doubt that 
he counts it the charm and joy of his life, to labor in the gospel, 
with those over whom the Lord has placed him. Summoned 
repeatedly to other fields of labor, every such solicitation has 
been refused. He enjoys the love and confidence of his own 
church, to a degree rarely equalled in pastoral experience, and 
has acquired a regard, and wields an influence in Brooklyn, not 



8 

inferior to that of any other citizen. This was manifest in 
1869, when, upon his urgent call to the Central Congregational 
Church in Boston, he received from all quarters of the city 
such tender and hearty remonstrance against his departure, as 
must have had weight in determining him to remain. His 
doctorate was conferred in 1853, by Union College, and after- 
wards by Harvard University. 

This is not an article in which indulgence should be given to 
an inclination towards determining, by analysis, the sources of 
this ministerial and social power. Something may be inferred 
concerning them, however, from the results wrought by God's 
favor in and through the church. This assembly of believers 
in Christ, then, is intelligently, and decidedly, in matter of 
faith, what its founders prayed and labored that it should be, 
an exponent of New England Puritanism. Few are better. 
The great doctrines of God's unity, — of God revealed in the 
Scriptures as Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, these three One 
God, and in all divine attributes equal, — his creative power 
and wisdom, his vital and perfect administration of a moral 
government, — the original holiness of man, from which he 
fell by sin against God, and that by this fall all men are natur- 
ally wholly inclined to sin, destitute of holiness and alien from 
God, — are exhibited in its Confession, and insisted on in the 
preaching from its pulpit. So, too, the truth that as a mere 
act of mercy, God gave his Son to die for the sins of the 
world ; that Christ made an atonement by his death suffi- 
cient to redeem all men ; that pardon and life are open to all 
men upon conditions of repentance and faith, with the other 
truth, that all men refuse these conditions except through a 
change of heart by the agency of the Holy Spirit, — and 
other fundamentals understood and trusted by the fathers, — 
these have all and always been taught and urged here, as of 
the utmost import to those who have heard them, and to the 
human race. Clear in symmetric conception of religious truth, 
alive to the importance of its application, ready to follow it to 
any logical issue, subordinating his varied and growing culture 
to the end of impressing truth upon his people in private and 
social as well as in the public means of grace, the pastor of 
this church has witnessed about him, for years, the best fruit of 




CHURCH OK THE PILGUIMS, BROOKLYN, N. Y. 
View on Rtmaeii Street. 



the ministry, — that development of Christly character to which 
he refers in the sermon previously quoted. The uniformity, 
moreover, "with which he centres his preaching on the person- 
ality and life of the Lord Jesus, makes the gospel, as he pro- 
claims it, a thing of unusual force and beauty. 

And this Christian gospel of the Puritans has proved itselt 
anew by this church, a beneficent gospel. Parent of our 
churches in Brooklyn, there are very few of our churches in this 
vicinity which have not looked at some time, nor vainly looked, 
to its pastor and his flock for help or direction. So struggling 
and anxious churches over the land, colleges and seminaries of 
learning and theology, public asylums and libraries, societies oi 
literature and art, as well as an imperiled country and the 
cause of Christian missions, have long found here those who 
have held it a privilege steadily and habitually to make willing 
offering to every such good object. Reckoning from the com- 
mencement, as far as can be ascertained, such donations by the 
church and congregation, outside ordinary church contributions, 
are estimated by those most conversant with facts, as probably 
reaching the sum of $280,000. Regular church contributions, 
from the beginning, have been as follows : — 



In 1845, $334.56 
" 1846, 398.16 
" 1847, 2,729.93 
" 1848, 3.128.77 
" 1849, 3.896.30 
" 1850, 4,306.23 


In 1851, $7,853.67 
" 1852, 7,899.05 
" 1853, 10,038.33 
" 1854, 7,417.01 
" 1855, 6,110.07 
" 1856, 6,260.00 


In 1857, $6,169.09 
" 1858, 7,712.12 
" 1859, 6,195.58 
" i860, 8,014.37 
" 1861, 4,806.99 
" 1862, 12,920.86 


In 1863, $12,352.36 
" 1864, 12,311.64 
" 1S65, 14.779.81 
" 1866, 15,151.19 
" 1867, 21,206.10 
" 1868, 16,535.04 


In 1869 


, $14,839.87; in 187c 


, $15,290.79 ; Total 


$228,657.89. 



Special objects of interest and gift have been Foreign and 
Home Missions, and the work of the Brooklyn City Mission and 
Tract Society, of which Rev. Dr. Stores has been the presi- 
dent, since the decease of the lamented Rev. Dr. Cutler, 
rector of St. Ann's Episcopal church, in 1864. The annual col- 
lection for this object is taken in November, and for a few years 
past has averaged about $6,000. The present schedule of yearly 
offerings embraces the American Home Missionary Society, 
the Brooklyn City Bible Society, the American Congregational 
Union, the Congregational Publishing Society, the cause of 
Christian Education, the American Seamen's Friend Society, 
American and Foreign Christian Union, Brooklyn Children's 



10 

Aid Society, American Tract Society, American Board of 
Commissioners for Foreign Missions, Brooklyn City Mission 
and Tract Society, and the American Sunday School Union. 
Attendants at the Church of the Pilgrims learn to give to 
good causes. They are trained to do so from the constraint 
of principle, — therefore constantly, wisely, and in great meas- 
ure according to ability. 

Allusion has been made to the work of propagation which 
it has been given to this church to accomplish. In the city, it 
has virtually colonized, time and again, giving birth and aid to 
churches of like belief and kindred zeal. Plymouth Church, 
the South and Clinton Avenue Churches are illustrations, each 
having had some of their best members from hence. Warren 
Street Mission, now an independent church, was its own child. 
The sustenance by its members, for years, of the Navy Mission 
Sabbath School, in a sunken and vicious part of the city, near 
the United States Navy Yard, resulted, in 1867, in the organ- 
ization of a church which was abundantly blessed of God. 
Much of the vital force of the flourishing Sabbath school con- 
nected with the German Evangelical church in Schermerhorn 
Street, is due to the happy labors, week by week, of devoted 
Christians from the Church of the Pilgrims. Probably from 
eight hundred to one thousand youth and adults are regularly 
taught by men and women from its membership, in the Home 
and other Sunday school and Bible classes. 

The nurture of the young has always been a thing of prayer 
and effort here. Pains are taken, to a good degree, to empha- 
size the need and beauty of religion in the household-. Re- 
corded baptisms of children number from the beginning of 
Rev. Dr. Storrs' pastorate, 447; and, since 1862, a finely- 
bound imported English Bible has been presented to each child 
so baptized, when it reaches the age of seven years. It is the 
gift of the church, through the pastor, with date of birth and 
baptism inserted, and bears the inscription in gilt, — From the 
Church of the Pilgrims to a Child of the Covejiajit. 

By the constitution of the church Sunday school, church and 
pastor stand in closer relations to the school, than in many, 
perhaps most, of the Congregational churches in the land. 



II 

Article I provides that the Sunday school shall be under 
the charge and oversight of the church, and the constant su- 
pervision of the pastor, who is requested to visit the teachers 
at their meetings, and the school at its sessions, at least once 
in every month, and oftener if practicable, and to take such 
personal part in the instruction as may seem to him desirable. 

By-Law No. 2, of the school, is as follows : — 

In the election of officers of the school, only those teachers 
shall be eligible to office, or shall be entitled to vote, who are 
members of the Church of the Pilgrims, and who have been 
connected with the school three months previous to the elec- 
tion. 

The last article of the Sunday-school constitution provides 
that the constitution and the by-laws of the school shall not be 
changed, except by a vote of the church, at its annual meeting. 
Previous articles make the pastor, superintendent, and vice- 
superintendent, standing committees on classification and disci- 
pline, on the library and on finance. 

The interest of Christians in our churches in the question of 
the best order for public worship on the Lord's day, has been 
and is of late years a greatly quickened interest. It may there- 
fore be profitable to notice here the order observed by this 
church, all the more because it is not unfrequently, in divers 
ways and from divers places, the subject of inquiry and com- 
ment. It was thoroughly canvassed by pastor and people in. 
1865, at the time of its introduction, and adopted by a decided 
vote of the church. Lapse of time and experience have con- 
firmed the judgment of those who thought that it would pro- 
mote God's service. Its value has practically ceased to be 
matter of question here, and it is the source of comfort and joy 
in the house of the Lord. The morning service is given, i 
brief. That for the evening is the same, somewhat shortened. 

I. After prelude on the organ, the first measures of Old 
Hundred are played, and the congregation rise and sing the 
Doxology, " Praise God from whom all blesshigs flowT 2. 
Prayer of invocation. 3. Opening hymn by choir and people 
(book in use — " Songs of the Sanctuary" — Psalter Edition), 
4. Reading of Scriptures by the minister, 5. Prayer of gen- 
eral supplication, ending with the repetition by minister and 



12 

people of the Lord's prayer. 6. Lesson from the Psalter,^ 
read responsively by minister and people, and at its close the 
Gloria Patri sung by choir and congregation. 7. Notices. 
8. Hymn announced by minister and sung by choir, 9. Ser- 
mon. 10. Closing hymn by choir and people. 11. Closing 
prayer and benediction, in one. 

Leaving, at this point, the history and work of the church, it 
remains that we speak of its edifice, engravings of which 
accompany this article. As this church has had but one pas- 
tor, so has it had but one church-home, strengthened, enlarged, 
and beautified from time to time. Steps were taken for its 
erection before the organization of the church itself, a com- 
mittee having been appointed early in 1844, to secure funds 
for a site, and building. The sum of ^25,000 having been sub- 
scribed, those who had given that at once doubled their con- 
tributions, as the best means to compass their undertaking. 
;^ 10,030 was paid for five and one-half lots of land, corner of 
Henry and Remsen Streets, and with the balance, the work of 
church erection was entered upon, the corner stone being laid 
July 2, 1844.^ It was dedicated May 12, 1846, Rev. Geo. B, 
Cheever, d. d., of 'New York, preaching the sermon. The 
architect was Richard Upjohn, of New York. The Building 

' Psalter constructed of Psalms i, ii, iii, iv, v, viii, ix, xv, xvi, xvii, xviii, 1-35 ; 
xix, XX, xxiii, xxiv, xxvii, xxix, xxxiii, xxxiv, xxxvi, xxxvii, l-ii, 22-40 ; xli, xlii, xliii, 
xlv, xlvi, xlvii, xlviii, li, cxxx, Iv, Ixi, Ixii, Ixiii, Ixiv, Ixv, Ixvi, Ixvii, Ixviii, Ixxii, Ixxvi, 
XXX, Ixxxi, Ixxxiv, Ixxxv, Ixxxvi, Ixxxvii, Ixxxix, 1-34 ; xc, xci, xcv, xcvi, xcvii, 
xcviii, xciii, xcix, c, cii, ciii, civ, cv, evil, cxi, cxii, cxiii, cxiv, cxv, cxviii, cxix, 97-128, 
129-160 ; cxxi, cxxii, cxxiii, cxxv, cxxxiii, cxxxiv, cxxxv, cxxxviii, cxxxix, cxliv, cxlv, 
cxlvi, cxlvii, cxlviii, cxlix, cl, Isaiah xi, 1-9; xlii, 1-12 ; Ixi, 1-7; Iv, I-13 ; xl, 
1-13 ; 22-31 ; Ix, 1-20, — in forty-eight lessons. 

^ A sealed box was deposited in the corner-stone, containing the Holy Bible ; 
27th Ann. Report of Am. Bible Soc. ; 34th Ann. Report of A. B. C. F. M.; i8th 
Ann. Report of Am. Home Miss. Soc; 18th Ann. Report of Am. Tract Soc; 20th 
Ann. Report of Am. S. S. Union; 28th Ann. Report of N. Y. S. S. Un.; 5th 
Ann. Report of Foreign Evang. Soc; Ann. Report of Am. Seaman's Friend's 
Soc; Report of Exec. Com. of Am. Temp. Soc; Maps and Illustrations of the 
Missions of A. B. C. F. M., 1843 5 Covenant of the First Church at Plymouth, 
Mass., in 1620, as established by the Pilgrims; Missionary Herald for May, 1844 
Sermon before A. B. C. F. M. in 1843, by Rev. T. H. Skinner, d. d.; A Disserta 
tion on the Rule of Faith, by Rev. Gardiner Spring, D. D.; The Cambridge Plat 
form of Church Discipline ; View of Congregationalism, by Rev. Geo. Punchard : 
"The Dead are the Living," a Sermon by Rev. S. H. Cox, D. D.; the Am. Al 
manac for 1844 ; Manual for the Officers and Communicants of the First Presby 



! 










WM 




CHDKCH OK THE I'lLGRUIS, i;U001vLYN, N. Y. 

ViewoflnlMinr. 





CHURCH OK TME PILGRIMS. KRUOKLYN, N. Y. 
Floor and Gallpry Plans. 



14 

The expense of this alteration was ^18,000. And for a dozen 
years or more, no further change in the church was needful. 

In the flight of time, and under Divine blessing upon church 
work, it became evident, near the close of that period, however, 
that the best interests of the church demanded an enlarge- 
ment of accommodations. This was especially requisite for a 
convenient and commodious lecture-room, and for the further- 
ance of the Lord's interests in the Sabbath school and Bible 
classes, and in meetings for prayer and social intercourse. To 
these ends, plans for alteration and addition to the building 
were prepared by Mr. Leopold Eidlitz, of New York, as 
architect, and adopted by the pew-owners in March, 1868. 
These plans involved the lengthening of the main auditorium, 
with the erection of a new two-story building upon the rear of 
the old church, on Remsen Street. They are now carried out, 
and in reality much more than was at first contemplated has 
been done, at an expenditure of ^135,000 for land and improve- 
ments. The building committee have been Messrs. D. John- 
son, Chairman, J. P. Robinson, G. L. Nichols, A. Baxter, J. 
M. Van Cott, S. Green, W. T. Hatch, F. R. Fowler, A. 
Woodruff, M. Hulbert, C. Storrs, S. B. Chittenden, J. C. 
Brevoort, and G. W. Parsons ; the committee in charge 01 
the work, — Messrs. Nichols, Chairman, Robinson, Green, 
Johnson, Hatch, and Hulbert. 

Forty feet of ground on Remsen Street, in rear of the church, 
extending one hundred and five feet in depth, was purchased, 
and the whole edifice has now a total depth of one hundred and 
seventy-five feet on Remsen Street, from the tower on Henry 
Street. The extended southern front, thus secured, is, archi- 
tecturally, one of the most imposing in Brooklyn or New York. 
The tower over the side entrance on Remsen Street is a con- 
necting link between the church proper and the newly added 
building. It may be the precursor of a new spire to be erected 
on the Henry Street tower. 

The audience room in the church now has an inner width of 
sixty-five feet, with eight feet added at the transept on the 
southern side. It is no feet in length, including gallery in 
front ; its height from floor to nave is 46 feet 3 inches ; from 
floor to ceiling over the side galleries, 35 feet. In all other 



13 

Committee were R. P. Buck, Chairman ; J. Humphrey, H. 
Barney, J. L. Hale, C. P. Baldwin, S. B. Hunt, D. Per- 
kins, S. B. Chittenden, E. T. H. Gibson, T. L. Mason, J. 
Battelle, J. P. Tappan, J. Slade jr. and C. G. Carleton. 
The walls were of gray sienite, from a quarry on the East 
River, and the stone used in the late additions has been 
brought from the same place. In these, however, the trim- 
mings are of Ohio freestone. Many persons who read these 
pages, have observed a fragment of the old Pilgrim Rock from 
Plymouth, Mass., set into the tower in the S. W. front corner. 
It is still there, a token of the regard entertained for the 
memory and work of the passengers by the Mayflower. 

The cost of the building, estimated in 1845, had been set 
at 1^40,000. But, as always, in church erection, estimate was 
below actuality, and upon completion, in 1846, it was found to 
reach ^53,000; so that the enterprise was encumbered with a 
debt of ^13,000. In 1848, this debt, then increased to ^18,- 
000, was discharged after brief effort, from January to April. 
As first planned, the roof stretched in a single span from 
wall to wall. It was soon found that the roof timbers were 
of inadequate size and strength, and a truss-bridge was 
carried longitudinally from end to end. Side galleries, not at 
first designed, were also put in. In 1854, this bridge seeming 
insufficient to sustain the roof, it was taken down, and eight 
columns (four on either side of the church), based on founda- 
tions of stonework, were carried up to the roof, inside the 
audience-room. These columns, now numbering ten, form a 
solid support for all weight they will ever be called on to bear. 

terian Church in Brooklyn, now under the charge of Rev. S. H. Cox, D. D.; Man- 
ual of the Broadway Tabernacle Church, New York ; Historical Sketch of the 
city of Brooklyn and Vicinity ; N. Y. Evangelist, Observer, Journal of Commerce, 
Express, Commercial Advertiser, American, Evening Post, Courier and Enquirer, 
Shipping and Commercial List, and other New York newspapers ; Brooklyn Daily 
Advertiser, Eagle, and Star ; Map of Brooklyn, and Map of New York, colored ; 
Map of the North River ; List of the Building Committee ; List of the Subscri- 
bers to this enterprise, with their places of birth ; a piece of old Plymouth Rock; 
D'Aubigne's History of Reformation in Germany and Switzerland, 3 vols.; Cole- 
man's Primitive Church; Congregational Catechism, New Haven; Manuals of 
Park street, and Essex street, and Bowdoin street churches in Boston; the 
Hierarchichal Despotism, by Rev. G. B. Cheever, D. D.; Watts' Psalms and 
Hymns, and a Collection of church music ; Brooklyn Directory, 1843-44 ; New 
York Directory, 1843-44. 



15 

rooms in the building, the height of ceihng from floor is 19 
feet, except in the Sunday-school room, where it is 44 feet 6 
inches. The lengthening of the main audience room has greatly 
improved its proportions ; and the inherent beauty of its arches, 
together with other features yet to be spoken of, make it one 
of the most attractive and elegant places of worship in this or 
in any country. The pews have been rebuilt in oak (this wood 
is used throughout the building in trimmings), and number on 
the ground floor, 192 ; in the side galleries, 54 ; in the front 
gallery, 16 ; total, 262, with a seating capacity of 1,240. They 
are doorless, upholstered and carpeted in crimson, arranged on 
the ground floor in two double rows, with an extra tier of wall 
pews on either side, and four rows in front, two on either side 
the pulpit. The windows, four on either side, are as they have 
been from the first, of ground glass, with stained borders, hav- 
ing Scripture sentences inwrought. A peculiar sociability be- 
tween the occupants of the galleries, and the congregation on 
the ground floor, is secured by placing the side gallery stairs 
in the auditorium itself, the first step being just within the en- 
trance door of each side aisle. The choir and organ gallery 
have been removed to the eastern end of the church, and are 
above and behind the pulpit, which is lifted six risers from the 
floor. This gallery is in fact the second story of the hall-way 
between the main audience room and the lecture room in the 
new building. It is thrown into the church proper, over and 
in rear of the pulpit screen, only separated from it by a series 
of stone columns and arches, which are surmounted by a stone 
screen reaching to the main ceiling. At the right (facing the 
audience room) of this gallery, is a new and powerful organ 
from the celebrated factory of Messrs E. & G. G. Hook, of 
Boston, described as follows : — 

There are three Manuals of 58 notes, compass from C^ to a*, and a Pedale of 
27 notes ; compass from C. to D^. 



GREAT MANUALE. 



16 ft. Open Diapason, 58 Pipes. 

8 ft. Open Diapason, 58 " 

8 ft. Viola di Gamba, 58 " 

8 ft. Viol d'Amour, 58 " 

8 ft. Doppel Flote, 58 " 

4 ft. Flute Harmonique, 58 " 

4 ft. Octave, 58 " 



2f ft. Twelfth, 58 Pipes. 

2 ft. Fifteenth, 58 " 

3 rank Mixture, 174 " 
3 rank Acuta, 174 " 
8 ft. Trumpet, 58 " 

16 ft. Trumpet, 58 " 



i6 



SWELL MANUALE. 



14. 16 ft. Bourdon, 58 Pipes. 

15. 8 ft. Open Diapason, 58 " 

16. 8 ft. Stopped Diapason, 58 " 

17. 8 ft. Keraulophon, 58 " 

18. 4 ft. Flauto Traverse, 58 " 

19. 4 ft. Octave, 58 " 



20. 4 ft, VioHna, 58 Pipes. 

21. 2 ft. Flautina, 58 

22. 3 rank Mixture, 174 

23. 8 ft. Cornopeau, 58 

24. 8 ft. Oboe and Bassoon, 58 

25. 8 ft. " Vox Humana," 58 



SOLO MANUALS. 



26. 8 ft. Geigen Principal, 

27. 8 ft. Dulciana, 
8. 8 ft. Melodia, 

29. ft. Fugara , 



58 Pipes, 
58 " 
58 " 
58 " 



30. 4 ft. Flute d'Amour, 58 Pipes. 

31. 2 ft. Picolo, * 58 " 

32. 8 ft. Clarionet, 58 " 



33. 16 ft. Open Diapason, 27 Pipes. 

34. 16 ft. Bourdon, 27 " 

35. io| ft. Quint, 27 " 



36. 8 ft. Violoncello, 

37. 16 ft. Trombone (reed), 



37 Pipes. 
27 " 



MECHANICAL REGISTERS. 



38. Great to Pneumatic Coupler. 

39. Swell to Pneumatic Coupler(Swell 

to Great), 

40. Solo to Pneumatic Coupler (Solo 

to Great). 

The above couplers are operated by 

pneumatic power, and are controlled by 

small thumb-knobs placed above the 

"Great" Keyboard, so as to be accessi- 



ble without removing the hands from 
the keys. 

41, Great to Pedale — Coupler, 

42, Swell to Pedale — Coupler, 

43, Solo to Pedale — Coupler, 

44, Swell to Solo — Coupler, 

45, Swell Tremulant. 

46, Bellows Signal. 



PEDAL MOVEMENTS. 

1. Piano Combination Pedal, to affect the Great Manuale Stops. 

2. Forte Combination Pedal, to affect the Great Manuale Stops, 

3. Piano Combination Pedal, to affect the Swell Manuale Stops. 

4. Forte Combination Pedal, to affect the Swell Manuale Stops. 

5. Pedal to operate on Solo Manuale stops. 

6. Pedal to operate " Great to Pedale " Coupler. 

7. " Adjustable " Swell Pedal. 



SUMMARY. 



Great Manuale, 
Swell Manuale, 
Solo Manuale, 
Pedale, 

Total speaking Stops, 
Mechanical Registers, 



Pedal Movements, 



13 Stops. 
12 " 
7 " 

1 " 

37 
9 

46 



986 Pipes. 
8x2 ♦' 
406 " 
135 " 

2,339 Pipes. 



The organ bellows is filled with air by the action of two 
powerful hydraulic engines placed in the cellar of the church 



17 

by Mr. I. N. Forrester, of Bridgeport, Conn. They are set 
in operation by drawing a stop at the key-board. 

The ventilating and acoustic properties of the room are 
found to be all that can be desired, and in closing what is said 
of it, its decoration alone claims attention. In this, polychromy 
has been fully employed, under direction of a committee, con- 
sisting of the pastor of the church, with Messrs. J. C. Bre- 
vooRT and G. L. Nichols. The result is so rich and as yet so 
novel, especially among our Congregational churches, that we 
speak of it at some length, borrowing from an article in the 
N. Y. Evening Post of June 1 5th, 1870. " A few years ago," the 
writer says, " decoration in color was practically unknown in 
this country. White, glaring white paint, was the sole coloring 
of the interior of churches, court-rooms, theatres, and banks, as 
well as of private dwellings. The best efforts of modern decora- 
tion in color, moreover, in Europe, do not date back further than 
1835 ; that art, as well as glass-staining, was revived by the 
king of Bavaria, under the management of the architects who 
built the All Saints' Church and the Basilica, in Munich. In 
the United States, decoration, we may say, h^d to educate a 
public taste for itself; or, what is the same, had to overcome a 
rooted popular prejudice. Yet, in the last ten years we have 
made immense strides in that direction, and it may be safely 
asserted that in proportion to population we exceed even Eng- 
land and France in the number of well-decorated buildings. 
Nor is it at all surprising that our people should love color, in 
a country where nature has produced a most brilliant display 
of it, illuminated by a tropical sun, and reflected and varied by 
an almost constantly clear sky. 

" In the Church of the Pilgrims, it must be admitted, the 
cheerfulness of expression and dignity of the audience room as 
it now is, are largely due to the decoration. 

" The walls of the church are of a blue-gray, with a r&d Jleur 
de lis. The clerestory is decorated in two colors of red, and 
the ceiling is Prussian blue, with gold stars. The woodwork, 
in the main, retains its oak color, the deep parts being covered 
with vermilion, while the bright lights of the capitals and the 
principal mouldings are gilt. A broad gilt band runs all 
around the church at the spring of the window arches, while 
e 



i8 

the windows, rather short in proportion to the architecture, are 
carried up by a pointed arched border to the spring of the roof, 
thus greatly improving the appearance of the separate bays, 
which were originally rather wide for their height. 

" The organ shows all its pipes in successive rows, the first 
being mainly blue and gold, the second gold upon red, and the 
third two contrasting reds ; while the more receding pipes and 
other parts of the organ are treated in a subdued bluish gray 
and a vermilion ornament. This coloring harmonizes per- 
fectly with the substantial character of the architecture, which 
is sustained by the stone of the organ screen and the solid oak 
of the pews and furniture. The effect of the whole is sugges- 
tive of genuineness and durability, while the harmony of the 
colors, lights, and forms of the decoration is perfectly satisfac- 
tory to the eye. The study of the interior may be commended 
to all who desire to make their church edifices attractive to the 
taste and impressive to the imagination." 

Passing from the auditorium into the new building, one 
enters a hall-way in rear of the pulpit and underneath the music 
gallery. At its. southern end is the main entrance on Remsen 
Street ; at the northern, a room for meetings of the Board of 
Trustees of the Ecclesiastical Society. Directly behind this 
hall-way, which is twelve feet in width, and reached through it, 
are the lecture and conference rooms, connecting by sliding 
doors of oak. Here six hundred people can find seats. As- 
cending from the hall-way to the second floor, are found the 
Sunday school, Infant and Bible-class rooms, with ample ac- 
commodations for six hundred persons. Here, also, is the pas- 
tor's study. Above, and on a third floor, is a room for social 
gatherings of the congregation, 43 x 38 feet. The following 
persons have been engaged in the several departments of con- 
struction, under supervision of the architect: B. Maguire, 
Brooklyn, mason ; Tappan Reeve, Brooklyn, carpenter ; L. 
H. CoHN, New York, decorator ; Mitchell, Vance & Co., 
New York, gas fixtures. 

During the progress of these alterations, which were com- 
menced in the early spring of 1869, the church worshipped, in 
the summer of that year, with the First Presbyterian church 
in Henry Street ; in the Athenaeum, Atlantic Street ; and with 



19 

the Reformed church on the Heights, in Pierrepont Street. 
Nearly all the time while absent from their own church build- 
ing, the weekly prayer meetings were held in the lecture room 
of the First Presbyterian church, on Remsen Street. Usually, 
the Sunday school gathered in the lecture room of the church 
of the Saviour (Unitarian), on Pierrepont Street. In Septem- 
ber, 1869, when the work of reconstruction promised longer 
continuance than had been anticipated, the trustees leased the 
Academy of Music for Sabbath services, and they were held 
there, until its completion. Very few larger audiences have 
statedly gathered in any place, to hear a Christian preacher, 
than were steadily brought thither, month by month, by Rev. 
Dr. Storrs. But pastor and congregation have now returned, 
as may be imagined, with great joy and praise to their reno- 
vated home. 

The audience room of the church was re-opened for worship, 
Sunday, 12th June, 1870, the pastor preaching, in the morning, 
from Ps. xcvi. 9, and Rev. T. D. Woolsey, d. d., president of 
Yale College, in the evening. During the month of October 
last, the pews which, from the opening in June, had been en- 
tirely free to all comers, were apprised at ^260,000. This sum 
represents the actual cost of the church property as enlarged 
and improved, including ^125,000 allowed to the original pew- 
owners, for which sum scrip had been given, when the ^ews 
were surrendered, — the same to be received as cash in the 
purchase of new pews. Of the pews thus apprised, ^170,000 
worth were at once sold, on which the tax for church income 
for the current year is ^13,600. Additional to this, a large 
number of pews have been rented, the present annual income 
from which exceeds $5,000. About ;^20,ooo was received in 
premiums on the pews sold. 

And here in that house, whose strength and beauty have now 
been freshly consecrated to the Lord, possessed of and using 
appliances for church life and comfort that are doubtless unex- 
celled, may this people, owing so much to the God who has 
bestowed these blessings, be led on by the Head of the church 
to a work for his kingdom and glory on earth, of which all they 
have hitherto been inspired to perform, shall be the germ. 

H. H. McFarland. 
Brooklyn, N. Y. 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



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